In the spring of 2020, the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) was about to move into its new 69,000-square-foot space, on the 27th and 28th floors of 7 World Trade Center, a building the firm had completed in 2006. But then the pandemic hit. It was not until fall 2021 that the offices were finally occupied. In the intervening time, as the world endured one lockdown after the next, and “work from home” became a common phrase, architects and their clients focused on the inevitable: creating workplace schemes for a “new normal” that puts the environment, health and safety, and life-balance issues front and center.
Many of these considerations had long been in discussions, notes Chris Cooper, the SOM design partner in charge of the project. “We had built a lot of collaborative spaces. Even three years ago, the importance of flexibility was clear.” The biggest change, he says, is in the acceleration of hybrid working. The design of the firm’s new home, however, was ahead of the curve, already incorporating the flexible workspaces that appeal to an equally flexible workforce, as well as the use of sustainable materials and systems that support employee well-being and the greater good. “These offices,” Cooper says, “are a sign of our firm’s cultural evolution. The environment is healthy and warm, with a spirit of openness.”
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